Slime-crushing machine



March 24, 1936. w. MILLER ET AL SLIME CRUSHING MACHINE Filed Feb. l,1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 24, 1936. W, M|| ER ET AL 2,035,332

SLIME QRUSHING MACHINE Filed Feb. l, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (n 3mm/Wou b1,aM/Mv www Patented Mar. 24, 1936 i UNITED STATES FFICE SLIME-CRUSHINGMACHINE William Miller, Kansas City, Kans., Claude Ray Vann, KansasCity, Mo., and Frank George Smersal, Kansas City, Kans.

Application February 1, 1932, Serial No. 590,290

10 Claims. (Cl. 17-43) The present invention relates to the prepara- Astill further object is to devise an apparatus tion of animal intestinesfor industrial purposes, for crushing slimes of animal intestines kwhichand more particularly has reference to a machine consists of asimplified structure having the least for breaking or loosening theslime on the inpossible moving elements.

terior walls of animal intestines. With these and other objects in`view,which 5.

It has long been known that animal intestines may be incident to ourimprovements, the invenmay be used for various purposes in the industionconsists in the parts and combinations to be trial arts. Prior to usinganimal intestines for hereinafter Set fOrth and Claimed, With the urlthevarious lpurposes for which they are suited, derstanding that theseveral necessary elements it is necessary to remove extraneous materialboth COIIlDriSing our rlvelltiOn may be Varied in C011- 10 from theexterior and interior walls. Various apstruction, proportions andarrangement, without paratus have been developed for removing thedeparting from the Spirit and SCOPe 0f the 3D- undesrable material fromthe walls of the ani- Dended Claimsmal intestines, but as yet, there hasbeen no ap- The present invention consists in e Strutture paratusdeveloped which successfully removes CompriSiIlg a rameWOlk having aplurality 0f 15 an of the material without damage to the walls rollersmounted therein, one of said rollers havof the intestines. ing itssurface corrugated in such a manner as Many developments have been madein which to effectively crush the slime from the intestines the loss dueto carrying or otherwise impairing passing between this roller andanother roller.

the walls of the intestines has been reduced to The Other IOlleireferred t0' iS in the OYIII 0f a' 20 a minimum, but as yet, there is noaetuauy perlarge smooth-surfaced roller which rotates at a fectdevelopment. The above diiculties are speed considerably slower thanthat of the crushespecially true in machines for Crushing and reingroller.r In order to feed the entrails through moving the slime ormucous membrane which adthe apparati-1S, a feed rOller Whieh iS` e15000rheres to the interior walls of animal intestines. rugated, cooperateswith the large smooth sur- 25 The present invention seeks to overcomethe faced roller and rotates at a speed relative tothe diiiicultiesencountered in the removal of the other rollers, so that its peripheralspeed will be slime or mucous membrane from the interior the same asthat of the smooth surfaced roller. walls of the animal intestines.Thus, the intestines will be moved through the A major object of thisinvention is to devise apparatus upon passing through the feed roller 30an improved apparatus for breaking or removand the smooth-surfacedroller and the crushingV ing the slime or mucous membrane from theinroller will serve to break the slime adhering to telio Walls 0fanima-l intestinesthe interior walls of the intestines. Means areAnother object 0f this invention is t0 devise an provided for adjustingthe spacing between the apparatus for breaking the Slime frOm the Wellsseveral rollers and in addition means may be pro- 35 of animalintestines which consists of means for vided for Spraying a, fluid, Suchas Steam or Wafeeding the intestines into the apparatus and ter, betweenthe rollers as the intestines are means for crushing the slime in theintestines, passed therethrough both of said means cooperating with acommon In Order to make our invention more vClem-1y T 0116? Iunderstood, we have shown, in the accompanying 40 Still another Oblect0f thls myenton 1S. to drawings, means for carrying the same into prac-Efovlde anfppa'jtus fo? removmg the Shme tical effect, without huntingthe improvements 1 om anima. intestmes whlch cons1sts of a strucin theiruseful applications, to the particular com ture having three rollers oneroller serving as a x y structions which, for the purpose ofexplanation, common cooperating roller with each of the other have beenmade the Subject of illustration two, and one of said rollers serving asa crush- In the drawings:

ing roller for breaking the slime.

Flgure 1 1s a rear elevation v1ew of an appara- A further object of thisinvention is to pro- Vide an apparatus having incorporated therein tusconstructed 1n accordance with the present a feed roller, a crushingroller and a common inventionroiler cooperating with each of the feedand Figure 2 iS a VieW taken Online 2-'2' 0f Figure 1. crushing rollers,and means for rotating the Figure 3 iS 2 VieW taken Orl line 3-3 0fFigure crushing roller at a higher speed than the other l, and shows theconstruction of the several rollers, and means for adjusting thedistance the rollers.

surface of the rollers are spaced apart. Figure 4 is a sectional viewtaken on line 4 4, 55

and shows the gear train associated with the several rollers forcontrolling the speed thereof.

Figure 5 is another sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure l andshows in detail the construction of the means for adjusting the spacebetween the several rollers.

As clearly shown in the drawings, an apparatus constructed as hereindescribed may comprise a base I which may be positioned o'n a bench oron the floor of a factory or other place in which the apparatus is to beused. In some instances, it is preferred to mount the base I upon theleg structure 2 which may be bolted to' the base I by the fasteningelements 3 or otherwise secured thereto. The leg structure 2 may be ofany conventional form, and as shown in the drawings, consists of twoA-frames having brace struts 4 extending between the lower portionsthereof.

A pair o'f supporting members 5 and 6 are mounted on the base I in anysuitable manner. As shown in the drawings, these support members may besecured to the base- I by bolts or any conventional type of fasteningmeans 1. As clearly shown in Figure 5, each of the support members isprovided with a bearing mounting 8, in which is rotatably mounted ashaft 9. Shaft 9 has fixed thereon a roller Il), the surface of which iscorrugated. It will be noted from a close inspection of Figure 3 thatthe corrugations are so formed as to have the appearance of sawteethwhen a cro'ss sectional view of the same is made. It has been found byactual experiment that a roller provided with this type of corrugationserves to effectively break the slime or mucous membrane from theinterior walls of the intestines with the least amount of action on theanimal intestine wall.

In addition to the bearing mounting 8, each of the support members 5 and6 is provided with a horizontal slot I2, at a height equivalent to thatat which the bearing mounting 8 is positioned. Slidably mounted in theslot I2 is a bearing block I3 having flanges I4 adapted to cooperatewith the side walls I5 of the slot I2 to maintain the block within theslot. Bearing block I3 has a shaft I6 rotatably mounted therein and thisshaft has xed thereon a roller I1. Roller I1 is adapted to cooperatewith the roller I for crushing or breaking the slime from the interiorwalls of the animal intestines.

Shaft I6 carrying roller I1 is mounted in the slidable bearing blocks I3so that the distance between the roller I1 and the surface between thecorrugated roller I0 may be varied to compensate for wear on the rollersand for different size intestines. Any suitable means for adjusting theposition of the bearing blocks I3 in the slots I2 may be employed. Oneform of this element which has been found to be preferable is clearlyshown in Figures 3, 4 and 5. This consists of a plate I8 secured on theopen face of the slot I2 by fastening means I9. Plate I8 is providedwith an aperture in which is mounted a bushing 20 having a bore thereinwhich is threaded. A screw 2I is threaded in the bushing 20 and has anend portion 22 of reduced size adapted to be received in a recess in thebearing block I3, so as to provide an effective engagement between thescrew 2l and the bearing block I3. It will be appreciated that uponrotating the screw 2I in the desired direction, the bearing block I3 canbe moved in the slot I2. In order to prevent accidental displacement ofthe bearing block I3, the

screw 2I may be locked against rotation by means of a lock nut 23.

In addition to the rollers I0 and I1, the third roller 24 is carried bythe support members 5 and 6. Extending from the upper portion of thesupport members and 6 are a pair of guide members 25, formingtherebetween a slot I2. A bearing block I3' constructed identical tothat mounted in the slo't I2 is slidably positioned in the slot I2.Means are provided identical with those shown associated with slot I2for adjusting the position of the block I3 in the slot I2".

Rotatably mounted in the block I3 is a shaft 26 on which is fixed theroller 24. As clearly shown in the drawings, the shaft 26 is mountedbetween but above the shafts 9 and I6. Roller 24, it will be noted, isconsiderably smaller than the rollers I0 and I1. The face of roller 24is corrugated so that the same will more effectively engage with theintestines passing between the roller 24 and the roller I1. Roller 2'4is constructed so that it may be adjusted in order to maintain a desireddistance between the surface of this roller and the surface of rollerI1.

It will be noted from the foregoing description that the roller I 1, thesurface of which is smooth and which may be constructed of brass orother suitable material, cooperates both with roller 24 and with rollerI0, thereby being common to both of these rollers. It has been foundthat this type of construction provides a simple apparatus having theleast number of essential parts.

It has been found that in order to obtain the maximum eciency from theapparatus shown, the several rollers must be rotated at dependentrelative speeds. For instance, the speeds of rollers I1 and 24 should beadjusted so that the peripheral speed of each will be equal. Therefore,when an intestine is passed between these rollers, there will be norelative movement between the portions of the intestine. It isessential, however, that roller IIJ be rotated at a rate of speedconsiderably higher than that of the feed roller 24 and of the commonroller I1. In order to provide for the relative speeds of the severalrollers, a suitable gear train has been provided which is shown mountedon the outer surface of the support member 5. As clearly shown in Figure4, shaft 26 has a pinion 21 secured thereon. This pinion is adapted tomesh with a spur gear 28 which is fixed on shaft I5. In the drawings,the roller I1 is of a diameter approximately twice that of the roller24. Since the peripheral speed of each of these rollers should be thesame, the spur gear 28 has twice the number of teeth as that of thepinion 21, so that the roller 24 will have a rotary speed which is twiceas great as that of the roller I1. It is desirable, as hereinbeforepointed out, to have the roller I0 rotate at a speed which isconsiderably greater than that of either of the other rollers in orderto effect the crushing action on the slime or mucous membrane within theanimal intestine undergoing treatment. Shaft 9, which carries the rollerI0, has a pinion 29 xed thereto adapted to mesh with a large spur gear30 which is connected to a pinion SI, both of which are mounted upon astub shaft 32. Due to the relative size of the spur gear 3D and thepinion 29, it will be appreciated that the rotary speed of the shaft 9will be considerably greater than that of the gear and pinion 3D and 3|,respectively. Pinion 3I is adapted to be connected with the gear 28 bymeans of an idler 33.

Due to the relatvesize f of thepinion-'Blsr-and the gear 28, there is a'fur-therreductionllnlspeed between thef-gear-3l and the-shaft' I6. Thus,fit will be appreciated that-the rotary speed offthe roller il! isconsiderably greater-than that of the roller l1. Asa matter'of'fact, ithas been "found advantageous to so construct the-gear vtrainbetween theshaft -9 and the shaft 2| Bthat when the shaft 9 rotates at a-speed ofapproximately 400 revolutions per minute, the shaft flB-will rotate at aspeed of approximately revolutions per minute.

Due to the relatively high rotative speedV of the shaft 9, this shaftcan lbe connected to a source of power such as -an-electric motor, by adirect connection with only afslight speed vreduction. For instance,asshown in lFigures 1=and 2,-a motor-"34 may be mounted upon'a portionof base I and have its shaft 35 connected with'shaft 9 in any suitablemanner. In the drawings, it will be noted that shaft 35l carries asprocket-36 and shaft 9 has fixed thereto a large sprocket 31,approximately four times the diameter of sprocket 35. Power istransmitted'from'sprocket 35 to sprocket'l by means of the silentv chain38. With this 'connection itV will be appreciatedl that an ordinaryelectric motor capable ofA producing 1200 revolutions per minute vmay beconnected with shaft 9, and thereby operate the slimecrushing machine atthe 'desired operating speed.

In some instances, it is desirable to/spray `water or steam onto theintestines as they pass Vvbetween the several rollers in the apparatus.`For this purpose, supply pipes 39 have been shown in the drawings.These pipes, it `will be noted` are provided vwith suitable `apertures440 which are so positioned as to spray the' iiuid at the desired pointbetween the several rollers. vThese pipes may be fastened to the supportmembersS and 6 in any-desired manner. For instance they may be securedby-means of the pipe straps 4|.

In operating the device herein Adescribed, the shaft 9 is connected byany suitable means, for instance, such as shown land described'hereinwith a source of power operating at a speed which will cause the rollerl0 tor rotate at a speed of `approximately 400 revolutions per minute.This in turn means that roller Il will rotate at approximately 35revolutions per-minute .and roller ,2li will rotate at approximately 70revolutions per minute. Since the diameter' of roller ll isapproximately twice that of 1oller'24, the-peripheral speed of theserollers `lwill `be -substantially the same.

An animal intestine to be treated ora-number of animal intestines larefed between-the rollers l1 and 26. The distance between these rollersmay be adjusted so as to feed the intestine without damaging the same toeven the slightestVv degree. The intestine tends to follow through theapparatus on the surface of ythe `large roller l1 which as hereinbeforementioned, may be constructed of brass or other suitable material. Infollowing the roller l1, the intestine passes between roller l1 and thecrushing roller IG, which rotates at a relatively high rate of speed.

Due to the construction of the surface of the roller I0 and the rate ofspeedat .which it rotates, the slimeor mucous membrane on the-.interiorwalls of the animal intestines is crushed or broken from the wallssothat it .can subsequently be removed with little effort. One of theoutstanding features of the present'invention is that in crushing theslime from the walls of the animaly intestines,1the structure hereindescribed has no .detrimental effect whatever upon the wall ofthe-lanimal intestine.

'il/hilelthe structure herein shown consists of the severalirollersmounted in the open frame structure,V it will be appreciated thatsuitable `guardmechanism such as sho-wn in dotted lines in Figures land`2 may be employed. Also, safety kappliances such as means forpreventing accidentalengagementwith the rollers, may also be provided.

I. It will be appreciated that the present inventionprovides a noveltype of apparatus for breaking or crushing slime or mucous memb-ranefrom the interior Walls of animal intestines, which consists of aminimum number of elements associratedin a rather simplified manner.

While we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of ourinvention, we Wish it to beunderstood that we do not conne ourselves tothe-precise details of Vconstruction hereinsetforth,

Vby'way of illustration, as it is apparent that many changes andvariations may be made therein, 'bythose skilled in the art, withoutdeparting from `the spirit of theinvention, or exceeding the scope f:ofthe appended claims.

We claim: 1. An apparatus for crushing slime on the interior Wallsofanimal intestines comprising a slime crushing roller having slightlyangular surfaces, a: feed roller for feeding the intestines to,thefcrushing'rollen and a common roller coop- Yerating with both thefeed and the crushing rollers, saidfeed and crushing rollers rotating inthe .same-direction and said common roller rotating :inthe oppositedirection, said feed and common 'rollers being of such diameter andbeing rotated position of both the feed and common rollers.

3. rAn apparatus for crushing slime on the interior walls of animalintestines comprising a lslime crushing roller, a feed roller forfeeding the intestines to the crushing roller, and a com- -mon roller'cooperating With both the feed and the crushing rollers, said feed andcommon roll- 'ers being of such diameter and being rotated at suchspeedsthat the peripheral speed of each isithe same,'and `means for rotatingsaid crushing rollerat aspeed whereby its peripheral speed Iisgreaterthan 'that of the other rollers, thereby effecting'a crushing and wipingaction on the intestines to break up and loosen the slime on the.interiorwalls of the intestines, said common roll- `erf-and crushingroller being mounted in substantially the samev horizontal plane andsaid feed 4roller being `mounted above the crushing and fcommon rollers,and independent means for adjustingthe common-roller horizontally, andthe feed roller vertically.

'4. An apparatus for'crushing slime on the interior Walls of animalintestines comprising a `large-'smooth surfaced roller Vmounted forrotaition about `a horizontal .axisVa corrugated feed roller 4mountedwith its axis parallel to that of the smooth surfaced roller, a crushingroller having a corrugated surface mounted to rotate about a horizontalaxis parallel to the axes of the other rollers, said crushing rollercooperating with the smooth surfaced roller for crushing the slime inthe intestines passing between the rollers to cause the corrugations toexert a wiping action on the intestines to loosen and break up the slimeon the interior walls of the intestines, said common roller and crushingroller being mounted in substantially the same horizontal plane and saidfeed roller being mounted above the crushing and common rollers, andindependent means for adjusting the common roller horizontally, and thefeed roller vertically.

5. An apparatus for removing the slime from the interior wall of animalintestines comprising support members, each support member having abearing mounting for a shaft, each of said support members having ahorizontal slot formed therein adjacent the bearing mounting, saidsupport members also having a vertical slot formed therein at a pointbetween and above the horizontal slot and the bearing mounting, bearingblocks slidably mounted in each of said slots, a shaft mounted in thebearing blocks positioned in the horizontal slots, a roller of largediameter carried by said shaft, a feed roller adapted to cooperate withsaid roller of large diameter for feeding intestines through saidapparatus, said feed roller being xed on a shaft mounted in the bearingblocks located in the vertical slots, a crushing roller having slightlyangular surfaces carried by a shaft mounted in said bearing mountingsand adapted to cooperate with the roller of large diameter for crushingthe slime in the intestines passed between said crushing roller and theroller of large diameter, and means for rotating said crushing roller ata speed whereby its peripheral speed is greater than that of the otherrollers.

6. An apparatus for removing the slime from the interior wall of animalintestines comprising support members, each support member having abearing mounting for a shaft, each of said support members having ahorizontal slot formed therein adjacent the bearing mounting, saidsupport members also having a vertical slot formed therein at a pointbetween and above the horizontal slot and the bearing mounting, bearingblocks slidably mounted in each of said slots, a shaft mounted in thebearing blocks positioned in the horizontal slots, a roller of largediameter carried by said shaft, a feed roller adapted to cooperate withsaid roller of large diameter for feeding intestines through saidapparatus, said feed roller being fixed on a shaft mounted in thebearing blocks located in the vertical slots, a crushing roller havingbackwardly slanting teeth carried by a shaft mounted in said bearingmountings and adapted to cooperate with the roller of large diameter forcrushing the slime in the intestines passed between said crushing rollerand the roller of large diameter, means for rotating said crushingroller at a speed whereby its peripheral speed is greater than that ofthe other rollers to cause the teeth to exert a wiping action on theintestines to loosen and break up the slime on the interior walls of theintestines, and independent means for moving said bearing blocks tovarious positions in said slots, for locking the blocks in the adjustedpositions.

'7. An apparatus for removing the slime from the interior wall of animalintestines comp-rising support members, each support member having abearing mounting for a shaft, each of said support members having ahorizontal slot formed therein adjacent the bearing mounting, saidsupport members also having a vertical slot formed therein at a pointbetween and above the horizontal slot and the bearing mounting, bearingblocks slidably mounted in each of said slots, a shaft mounted in thebearing blocks positioned in the horizontal slots, a roller of largediameter carried by said shaft, a feed roller adapted to cooperate withsaid roller of large diameter for feeding intestines through saidapparatus, said feed roller being fixed on a shaft mounted in thebearing blocks located in the vertical slots, a crushing roller carriedby a shaft mounted in said bearing mountings and adapted to cooperatewith the roller of large diameter for crushing the slime in theintestines passed between said crushing roller and the roller of largediameter, means for connecting said shaft carrying the crushing rollerto a source of power, a pinion mounted on this shaft, a stub shaftcarried by one of said support members, and having a large spur gear anda pinion mounted thereon, said spur gear being meshed with the pinion onthe shaft carrying the crushing roller, the pinion on the stub shaftbeing connected through an idler with a spur gear mounted on thehorizontally slidable shaft which in turn is meshed with a pinioncarried by the vertically slidable shaft whereby rotary motion impartedto the crushing roller shaft will be transmitted to the shafts carryingthe other rollers.

8. An apparatus for crushing slime on the interior Walls of animalintestines, comprising means having a moving surface, means to feed theintestines onto the moving surface, and crusher means spaced from themoving surface comprising a plurality of backwardly slanting teeth whichare adapted to move in the direction of the moving surface at a higherVelocity than the moving surface and which exert a crushing and wipingaction on the intestines, whereby the slime is broken up and loosenedfrom the interior walls of the intestines, and means for causing theCrusher means to move at a higher velocity than the moving surface.

9. An apparatus for crushing slime on the interior walls of animalintestines comprising a slime crushing roller having a solidsubstantially non-yielding rim, a feed roller for feeding the intestinesto the crushing roller, and a common roller cooperating with both thefeed and crushing rollers, the outer surface of the crushing rollerbeing so formed and the speed such that it exerts a crushing and wipingaction on the intestines, thereby loosening the slime from the interiorwalls of the intestines without damaging the intestines, and means forrotating the crushing roller at a greater speed than the common roller.

10. An apparatus for crushing slime on the interior Walls of animalintestines, comprising a crushing roller having a solid substantiallynonyielding rim having backwardly slanting teeth, a second rolleradapted to cooperate with said crushing roller for loosening andbreaking up the slime in the interior walls of the intestines, andtoothed means for feeding the intestines to the rollers.

WILLIAM MILLER. CLAUDE RAY VANN. FRANK GEORGE SMERSAL.

